The Law Was Our Guardian

As I was studying Galatians, I found myself fixed on Chapter 3:24-25 "So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian"

I was intrigued by the term guardian, which is also translated as tutor or schoolmaster. For whatever reason, I just got stuck on the term.

In his video series on Fire on the Mountain, Ray Vanderlaan took time to explain the cultural relevance of the word "banner" in Exodus 17:15 "The Lord is My Banner" and knowing the history and use of the word banner enhances the meaning of the whole phrase.

So, I did a little digging on the word guardian and here's what I found.

According to http://biblehub.com/text/galatians/3-24.htm the original Greek word is paidagōgos.

My next stop was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy

Greek: paidagōgos  | English: Pedagogue or Pedagogy  |  "to lead the child"

“The word pedagogue actually relates to the slave who escorts Roman children to school."

"The pedagogue's job is usually distinguished from a teacher's by primarily focusing on teaching children life-preparing knowledge such as social skills and cultural norms, etc. There is also a very big focus on care and well-being of the child. Many pedagogical institutions also practice social inclusion. The pedagogue's work also consists of supporting the child in their mental and social development.”

As soon as I read this meaning I felt like I knew exactly what Paul was trying to explain and was amazed at the depth of meaning hidden within the analogy.

Paul used a very common picture that everyone, at that time, would be familiar with.  Many children were under the care of a pedagogue.  The pedagogue was responsible for teaching manners, social skills, etiquette, and ensuring that the children got to school on time, thus handing off the children to the teacher.

Think about the picture Paul painted.  He related the Torah to a pedagogue.  The Torah provided instructions for how to define community, how to treat each other, social interaction, manners, employment, eating habits, hygiene, etc.  The analogy is completed by understanding the Torah’s purpose was to point us (or hand us off) to the teacher (Christ).

After the pedagogue escorted children to the teacher, do you think the teacher told the child to forget everything taught by the pedagogue?  That is absurd to even consider. It is just as absurd to consider that Paul was teaching to disregard everything taught in the Torah just because he is teaching salvation is based on faith.  Absurd.

Like a pedagogue that teaches manners and social skills, the Torah is filled with instructions on how to treat your family, neighbors, slaves, employees, foreigners, animals, food, hygiene, a calendar, worship, purity, forgiveness, and instructions on appointed times God set aside to meet with us in celebration and remembrance (also called The Feasts).  These instructions are given with the promise that, if followed, great blessing will be given.  If not followed, there are curses attached, not to mention the absence of blessings.  Personally, I would even consider the absence of blessings to be a curse in itself.

I think we treat this promise of blessing the same way many of us treat our health and nutrition today.   We know that eating and exercising correctly, we will live healthier and feel better.  Many of us do not follow the basic nutrition and fitness “rules” and end up overweight.  We are tired, sick, and unhealthy.  We spend extra money on doctor visits and medication to fight cholesterol, diabetes, joint pain, and a myriad of other health challenges, all caused because of unhealthy living.   If we just followed the “rules” we would reap the reward.  Do we blame the doctor, fitness trainer, or nutritionist for having rules to follow?  Doesn't that seem silly?

I believe God’s Torah follows the same principal.  The covenant He made, if followed, offered numerous blessings.  If not followed, curses would fall upon us.  The negative connotation from the Torah (law) came from man trying to redefine the Torah as a means to righteousness and salvation, thus imprisoning man in a life of constant failure instead of freeing man to a life of blessings. 

The Torah was given as a way to create an organized community for around 3 million people that were not part of any other organized community.  3 million people without a government, king, ruler, or formal set of laws to guide them.  Most of those 3 million people had spent their entire lives as slaves in Egypt.  Their daily life was one of fearful submission until the great exodus occurred and they were saved from slavery.  Now, wandering the desert, they have no formal organized government or community.  God provided that in the form of the Torah.  In this Torah were laws, hygiene, health, nutrition, how to treat employees, how to treat slaves, how to treat bosses or masters, how to treat foreigners, etc.  The basics of how to live in an organized community without chaos and anarchy.  God took responsibility to teach 3 million people and growing, how to form a single functioning community.

It was man’s mentality that turned this community organization guide book into a form of laws to earn righteousness.  Man turned it into what it was never intended to be.  It was not salvation or a way to earn salvation.  It was a guidebook on how to live life, treat others, and survive as a nation.

Paul did not banish the Torah.  He was simply teaching to return it to its proper place that God intended from the beginning, and to point believers back to faith in God. 

As a teacher would never tell a child to forget or abandon everything the pedagogue taught, Jesus never told his followers to forget or abandon everything in the law.